POLICE: Children found in Louisville home with no electricity, running water or food

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Police say a man and a woman have been arrested after two small children were found in a home without electricity, running water or food -- but plenty of illegal drugs around.

According to arrest reports, representatives of Louisville Metro Police and Child Protective Services went to the home of 55-year-old Lonnie Cassady and 48-year-old Kelli Fried, the custodial grandparents of two children of approximate ages 2 and 4. The visit to the home in the 5200 block of Witten Drive, just off Dixie Highway, was to check on the welfare of the children.

When officers arrived just after 7 p.m. Monday, they allegedly found the home had no running water, no power and no food for the children, a situation that, "put the welfare of the children at significant risk with potential of neglect."

Police say Cassady and Fried were in their bedroom. According to arrest reports, there was already a warrant for Cassady's arrest.

As they were arresting Cassady, police say they found a small cylindrical container in his right pants pocket, containing what he said was Xanax. Police say they also found a bag of suspected Xanax bars and another bag containing a brown powdery substance believed to be heroin.

Police found more of the white and brown powdery residue on the nightstand next to the bed, according to the arrest report.

Police say Cassady and Fried admitted the drugs belonged to them.

Police say the presence of the drugs put the children at risk of "significant injury or death," given that they could have swallowed the drugs.

"The subjects were in an unsecured room, and the table was low enough that either child might have accidentally ingested drugs," police say.

Both Cassady and Fried were arrested and charged with first-degree possession of a controlled substance (heroin), two counts of second-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12, endangering the welfare of a minor and third-degree possession of a controlled substance.